'A travesty of justice': Osman Kavala and the collapse of Turkey's justice system

On 25 April, a court in Istanbul sentenced the prominent philanthropist and human rights defender Osman Kavala to life in prison on charges of attempting to overthrow the Turkish government, and sentenced seven other defendants to 18 years for aiding Kavala.

The highly controversial charges refer to his alleged role in organising and financing the Gezi Park protests in 2013, and his involvement in the 2016 failed coup attempt against the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The ruling quickly drew global condemnation of the Turkish judiciary. The United States issued a statement saying it was "deeply troubled" by the court’s decision, while Germany criticised the decision as being “blatantly in contradiction” with international obligations Turkey had agreed to abide by as a member of the Council of Europe.

"Aggravated life imprisonment is the most severe sentence under Turkish law, replacing the death penalty following its abolition in 2004"

International human rights groups have slammed the life sentence and demanded that Kavala be released immediately and all charges against him be dropped. Human Rights Watch (HRW) called it “the worst possible outcome to this show trial” while Amnesty denounced it as “a travesty of justice of spectacular proportions”. 

In a joint statement, Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED), Freedom House, PEN America, and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said that the Gezi Park case is “among the most notorious and deliberately convoluted political prosecutions pursued by Erdogan’s government”.

Aggravated life imprisonment is the most severe sentence under Turkish law, replacing the death penalty following its abolition in 2004. 

Mumtaz Murat Kok, monitoring programme coordinator at the Turkish Media and Law Studies Association (MLSA), noted that the punishment for Kavala has been the “harshest” one against dissidents so far, though he admitted that some very hefty sentences were handed down in the past targeting those opposing or critical of the government. Following the 2016 coup attempt, a heavy crackdown targeted civil society activists, political opponents, journalists, academics, and other critics.

Initially arrested in 2017 for allegedly funding the 2013 protests, the 64-year-old businessman and philanthropist was re-arrested just hours after his acquittal and release in 2020 with accusations of taking part in the military coup plot and espionage.

At the retrial on 25 April, the court acquitted him of the espionage charge and protracted his imprisonment on the allegation of trying to topple the government. He has already spent four-and-a-half years in detention without being convicted.

“In a normal judicial system that is independent of the executive, in a fair trial, none of these things would have happened,” Amnesty International's Turkey campaigner Milena Buyum said to The New Arab, adding that “it’s a politically motivated prosecution from the start”.

The seven other defendants who were convicted in the ‘Gezi trial’ are Mucella Yapici, Cigdem Mater, Hakan Altinay, Mine Ozerden, Can Atalay, Yigit Ali Ekmekci and Tayfun Kahraman, and come from diverse backgrounds, including architects, urban planners, a film producer and academics.

Throughout the first and the second trial, Turkish officials failed to provide any substantial evidence that would prove the defendants’ guilt.

“The Gezi trial is a case study of breach of right to fair trial. There was no due process from beginning to end”, Kok, who has been following the trial, told The New Arab. Looking back at the hearings he attended, he pointed out that judges would not let the defendants discuss the evidence brought by the prosecuting authorities, or even listen to them and their lawyers.

“The most troubling thing was when the order of immediate imprisonment was pronounced for the seven rights activists. Just because they struggled for the conservation of Gezi Park”, he said, referring to the mass protests of summer 2013 against the Erdogan-led government’s decision to build a shopping mall in Taksim Gezi Park in central Istanbul.

In December 2019, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) found there was insufficient evidence linking the renowned activist to his alleged offences, and that his pre-trial detention was used to "silence him and dissuade other human rights defenders”.

"The ECHR has repeatedly ordered the release of Kavala and the other seven individuals, but Turkish authorities have categorically ignored the ruling"

The ECHR has repeatedly ordered the release of Kavala and the other seven individuals, but Turkish authorities have categorically ignored the ruling. That prompted the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe (CoE), of which the ECHR is a part, to trigger infringement proceedings against Turkey last February over its refusal to comply with the court’s 2019 judgement.

These very rare disciplinary proceedings could ultimately see Turkey’s membership in the Council suspended. The CoE has only launched such serious legal action against one other member, Azerbaijan, in 2017 for failing to implement a binding ruling of the ECHR. The only member state it has ever suspended is Russia, which was expelled in March due to its invasion of Ukraine.

“For the first time in its history, Turkey was indicted by the European Court of Human Rights,” MLSA’s coordinator commented. Yet, he continued, the latest verdict raises alarm in that it shows that Ankara is not willing to adhere to its international commitments.

He believes that the Turkish government could use the argument that Kavala’s ongoing detention is linked to the 2016 attempted coup, not the previous charges that were reviewed by the European court, “to dismiss” the infringement process.

For him, Turkey is also confident about its diplomatic standing in relation to the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, which grants President Erdogan a lot of leeway in the way he handles the ECHR’s condemnation of Ankara on Kavala’s detention.

“Erdogan is beyond the point he needs to care about international pressure. He knows Europe cannot afford to lose Turkey”, Kok said alluding to Turkey’s ongoing diplomatic efforts in mediating an end to the war in Ukraine.

As a member state of the Council of Europe, Turkey is required to uphold its international obligations and to implement the decisions of the European court. But the Turkish judiciary has been repeatedly unresponsive to international justice institutions, continuing to give in to Erdogan’s political will. That, in turn, challenges the integrity of the European human rights system overall.

Buyum voiced serious concern about Turkey’s non-compliance with the rule of law and human rights. “It’s been a shocking series of acts of complete disregard of not just international human rights law but of its own constitution”, Amnesty’s campaigner emphasised.

"How the Council and its member states respond to the conviction, deplored by rights groups as legally baseless and unjust, will have an impact on the work of rights defenders"

She remarked that the judiciary’s lack of accountability has “weakened” the international system broadly speaking, and advocated for mechanisms to ensure the CoE’s members comply with European and international commitments and, where legal breaches arise, they are held to account.

The infringement procedure is one important action to uphold the international human rights framework. Whether it will be successful in relation to Kavala’s judgement remains to be seen.

How the Council and its member states respond to the conviction, deplored by rights groups as legally baseless and unjust, will have an impact on the work of rights defenders.

“This verdict deals a devastating blow not only to Osman Kavala, his co-defendants and their families, but to everyone who believes in justice and human rights activism in Turkey and beyond,” Nils Muiznieks, Amnesty International’s Europe director, said.

News reports indicate that Kavala’s lawyers are going to appeal the verdict. If the appeals courts do not overturn it, Osman Kavala will spend the rest of his life in prison.

Jo Schietti is a pseudonym. The author resides in a jurisdiction where the publication of their identity may create a security or freedom of movement issue.